Clinton's Offer Merits Study

December 4, 1999

At first glance, President Clinton's offer to the people of Vieques looks tempting. In exchange for accepting a limited version of Navy war games, the tiny island would get a $40 million economic development package. The Navy also has agreed to abandon Vieques in five years unless local residents want it to stay.

Clinton's Friday afternoon Vieques offer was promptly rejected by Puerto Rico's Gov. Pedro Rossello, a strong statehood advocate. Rossello called the president's offer "unacceptable for the people of Puerto Rico and the people of Vieques."

But it is ultimately the 9,300 people who live in Vieques who must decide what is acceptable. Vieques residents have lived in the shadow of war games for 60 years, and it is they who have suffered the consequences. Any settlement should address environmental cleanup and health concerns. This includes getting to the bottom of Vieques' high cancer rate -- it has been 27 percent higher than the overall rate in Puerto Rico and no one knows why.

President Bill Clinton has shown restraint by not ordering the reopening of the Navy bombing range. On Friday, the White House announced that the president has agreed to send the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower and its battle group to its next deployment in the Mediterranean Sea without Vieques training, which should have taken place this month.

The Pentagon was opposed to this solution, and it's difficult to argue with the assertion that U.S. troops must be combat ready when they are sent to potential conflict areas.

Yet the Pentagon has not proven its case that Vieques is the only place where the Atlantic fleet can train with live fire. Nor has the Pentagon shown much sensitivity to the concerns of Vieques' residents. These concerns understandably heightened last April when two errant 500-pound bombs killed civilian guard David Sanes RodrM-mguez and injured four others.

Clinton's decision gives the Navy and Puerto Rico more time to negotiate and reach a possible compromise on a controversial issue. To have live-fire training on Vieques now, when the majority of Puerto Ricans reject it, would have been to invite widespread civil disobedience and possible violent resistance in the U.S. Commonwealth.

It would have meant sending federal marshals to Vieques to remove dozens of protesters camped there. Puerto Rico's police chief and justice secretary have refused to do so. These trespassers include members of Puerto Rico's three political parties, plus representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and most Protestant denominations on the island.

The battle group being sent to the Mediterranean Sea in February will get the proper training, although it won't all occur in one place. Rather, the training will be piecemeal, likely between military bases in North Carolina and Florida.

Some military experts, among them two retired admirals, argue that live-fire exercises in Vieques are not critical to national defense, as the Navy asserts. One, Retired Vice Admiral John Shanahan, recently stated that "the Navy is failing to recognize that it is still fighting World War II."

On the other hand, recent polls indicate that Puerto Ricans may be willing to accept continued Navy exercises in Vieques without the use of live ammunition.

Vieques, which is part of Puerto Rico, has an offer from President Clinton that needs to be studied in a climate of peace.